World’s Largest Hydrogen Electrolysis Plant to be Built at Rhineland Refinery

Shell has announced its plans to build a new hydrogen electrolysis plant at its Rhineland refinery. The announcement comes after further funding for the project was secured by a European consortium comprising Shell, ITM Power, SINTEF, thinkstep and Element Energy. With a peak capacity of 10 megawatts, the plant will be the largest of its kind in the world.

The hydrogen will be used for the processing and upgrading of products at the refinery’s Wesseling site as well as testing the technology and exploring application in other sectors. If powered by renewable electricity, the hydrogen will help to reduce the carbon intensity of the site. Going forward, units such as this will help balance the supply of electricity to the grid from renewable sources.

The project secured 10 million euros from the Fuel Cell Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH-JU), bringing the project’s total investment to approximately 20 million euros. Element Energy prepared the successful proposal to FCH JU, and will be participating in the project by conducting analysis of novel business models for electrolysers of this scale.